Improvement in seeding-machines



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REUBEN HURD, OF SPRING HILL, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN SEEDlNG-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 13.986, dated December 23, 1855.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, REUBEN HURD, of Spring Hill, in the county of Whiteside and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Seed-Drills; and I do hereby deview of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

My improvement in seed-drills has reference to that class in which the seed is taken from the hopper by an elevator composed of a belt and buckets or cups and dropped in the downward travel of the belt, by the inversion of the buckets, down a conveying-spout to and through a hollow share into the ground; and my invention consists in a noveland advantageous arrangement and operation of the elevator with the seed-hopper and conveying spout or tube to the hollow share, as will be hereinafter explained.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A represents a rectangular frame, which is supported by three wheels, B B B, on an axle, U, the wheel B being at the center of the axle and within the frame A. On the frame A and directly over the wheel B the drivers seat D is placed. To the front end of the frame A a draft-pole, E, is attached, and also two uprights,a a, one at each side of the frame. Between the two uprights a a, near their front ends, a seed-box, F, is secured. The bottom of the hopper has a slot, b, made through it.

G is a shaft, the journals at the ends of which work in the lower ends of the uprights a a. This shaft has a pulley, H, placed on it at about its center. (See Fig. 1.)

I I are plates, which are secured vertically to'the outer sides of the uprights a a by means of screws 0, which pass through slots in the plates and into the uprights, (see dotted lines, Fig. 1,) the slots allowing the plates to work up and down. To the upper ends of the plates 1 I a shaft, J, is attached, the plates forming bearings for the shafts. A pulley, K, is placed onthe shaft J at about its center, and a belt,

L, passes around the two pulleys H K, one side of the belt passing through the slot 1) in the bottom of the seed-box F and the other through a portion of an inclined spout, M, the upper end of which is secured to the uprights a why a transverse rod, (1, which passes through the uprights.

N is a frame, the side plates, 0 c, of which are attached by pivotsfto the outer sides of the uprights a a. The ends of the side plates have slots made in them, ip which slots projections 70 h at the lower ends of the plates I1 fit.

O is a segment-rack, the lower end of which is attached to a cross-piece, t, of the frame A. This rack holds the frame N at any desired point, as will be presently shown.

In the slot 7) in the bottom of the seed-box F there is placed a valve, P, the outer end of which works or is fitted on a pivot, j, at the lower end of the seed-box. The valve P is connected by a link, K, to a spring, Q, underneath the seed-box. The spring Q keeps the valve P, when not raised by the buckets, against a pin, Z, and the inner end of the valve is near the surface of the belt L, sufficiently near to prevent the seed from passing through between the belt and the edge of the valve. The belt L has buckets m attached to it at suitable distances apart.

To the back part of the draft-pole E there is attached a pendant, It, (see Fig. 1,) which has a horizontal arm, S, secured to it by a pin, m, which passes through plates at n, attached to the end of the arm, and through the pendant B.

To the inner end of the arm S the share T is attached by means of its hollow shank 0, which passes vertically through the arm, and having a hopper, p, on its upper end. This hopper p is underneath the lower end of the spout M. The inner end of the arm.S rests upon a frame, U, the side pieces, q q, of which pass up through the side pieces of the frame A, and are attached by pins 1" to a frame, V, the ends of which are secured by pivots s to the front part of the frame A.

On the axle 0 there is placed a pulley, W, around which a cross-belt, t, passes, said belt also passing around a pulley, X, on one end of the shaft G. (See Fig.2.)

Operation: The seed to be sown is placed in the seed-box F, and as the machine is drawn along motion is given the belt L by means of the cross-belt t, and the buckets m pass up through the seed-box F, raising the valve P, and of course fill with seed, the valve returning to its original position as each bucket passes it, in consequence ofthe spring Q. The seed falls from the buckets as they pass over the pulley 11 into the spout M, and thence into the hopper p, and through the hollow shank 0 into the furrow made by the share T.-\ The share T may be raised or lowered to make a deep or shallow furrow by adjusting the frame V, and the belt L may be tightened on the pulleys H K by adjusting the frameN, or, when desired, it may be loosened, so that it will not turn at all when it is not designed to operate the machine, as when conveying it'to the field. The wheel B serves the purpose of a roller, as it is directly back of the share T. I

The novel feature of my improvement has, as before stated, reference to the elevator and its relative arran gementand opera tion with the seed-hopper and conveying-spout, and the advantages of this arrangement and operation are these: In other arrangements where an elevator of this character has been employed to take the seed from the hopper and drop it into the conveying tube or spout the cups or seed-buckets of the elevator have been caused to pass round the lower drum or pulley within the seed box or hopper, the buckets having a downward as well as an upward action through the seed, and not passing through the bottom of the hopper. Such arrangements are bad. The downward action of the buckets against and through the seed (which they press hard against the bottom of the hopper) is apt to bruise the seed or make the belt of the elevator slip, and thereby cause an irregular distributing action, and a gate or sliding shutter has been requisite to reduce from the main body of the hopper the mass of seed in which the elevator-cups work. In my arrangement the elevator-buckets have no downward action in the seed box or hopper, but only have an easy upward lift against the seed, which readily rises as the buckets impinge, and thereby prevents all bruising of the seed or shipping of the belt of the elevator, and the rising of the movable bottom or valve R of the hopper as the buckets enter through it more effectually loosens and agitates the seed and reduces still further, by the lift of the seed in the direction of the travel of the buckets, the specified impinging effeot of the buckets on the seed as the buckets meet the latter, while the falling of the spring-valve R as the buckets pass it induces a corresponding falling of the seed to meet the rising buckets and fill them loosely or freely and with greater certainty.

I do not claim the employment of an endless belt or elevator with its cups or buckets for described, ot' the elevator or belt with its buckets or seed-cups m, with the conveying-spout M and seed-box F, the latter being provided with a spring-valve, Q, or movable bottom.

opening upward, and the seed cups or buckets passing through said bottom exclusively in or during the upward travel of the elevator, as specified.

REUBEN HURD.

Witnesses:

ANDREW J. DRAKE, J. M. LANPHERE. 

